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Can an informant sell you drugs and can audio recordings be used to indict you in court for soliciting and possession of drugs?

Chadds Ford, PA | January 23, 2014 7:23am

I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where the police are bored and looking for anyone to bust anyone. I bought a form of opiate from an informant five times, and she recorded each time she dealt to me. The drugs were real, and the police charged with solicitation and possession. Will this hold up in court?

Welcome to the world that DEA and other drug investigating agencies operate in. Many, if not most drug prosecutions involve controlled deliveries of drugs by one individual (usually the informant but sometimes an undercover officer) to another (the defendant), which are surreptitiously recorded. If done properly, (there are different rules for state and federal prosecutions) the credibility of the government's witness is corroborated by the recordings. The witness will be permitted to testify about what she did. That said, if the deliveries and recordings were not authorized/supervised by the police, the admissibility of the recordings may be challenged. You should speak confidentially and immediately with an experienced criminal defense attorney before speaking to anyone else about this. Use the "Find a lawyer" feature to locate an Avvo attorney. If you cannot afford counsel, apply to the public defender's office ASAP.

Yes, they can do this, and yes, it will may well hold up in court. But it depends upon all of the facts and circumstances.

R. Jason de Groot, Esq. We do not have an attorney-client relationship. I am not your lawyer. The statements I make do not constitute legal advice. Any statements made by me are based upon the limited facts you have presented, and under the premise that you will consult with a local attorney. This is not an attempt to solicit business. This disclaimer is in addition to any disclaimers that this website has made. I am only licensed in Florida.

It is highly unusual for a informant who is cooperating with police to sell drugs to a suspect for purposes of charging the suspect with possession. If she wasn't cooperating with the police then her selling the opiates to you was a crime, and the recording of the transaction is probably a crime and probably violates Pennsylvania Wiretap laws. If she was acting at the instruction of the police in selling you the opiates, then the issue of entrapment should be closely looked at by your attorney.